Hotel California
by Storm Arashi
Summary: Post Same as it Never Was. Donatello was never the same after that time...He was gone for what felt like days...Seen his family members die...And felt like he too had died with them even if he was back with them now...Not even they can help him when he's having nightmares... His only comfort during those nights a song from his childhood...But did he leave the Hotel California?


_I couldn't believe what I had seen..My brothers...All die in front of me..._

Donatello had never been truly the same after the world where the Shredder had ruled had been shown to him...To see Leo and Raph his eldest brothers...Brothers he had patched up so many times...He had been so focused on fighting he didn't realize they were in trouble...That they needed him..

Mikey...Michelangelo..His little brother...Missing an arm and then missing his life...

Karai...His brother only Don knew had a growing but bitter love for the girl who lived under the Shredder's thumb and to see her cut him down...

Taking down the Shredder himself was his only solace...

When he had nightmares and remembered it he pulled out his old CD player with an old band on it...Then when he had gotten an MP3 player from April and Casey for his birthday he would pull that out for one song...

Night's like these where he woke up gasping for breath and all but shoving the headphones over his ears.

_Mirrors on the ceiling,  
The pink champagne on ice  
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"_

It was funny he mused...That's how he felt when he was in the world he vowed to never let exist...Never allow to be born...He was a prisoner there...He felt like if he had spent another moment there...If he had been doomed there for the rest of his days that he would've taken his big brother's sword and just ended his suffering.

_And in the master's chambers,  
They gathered for the feast  
They stab it with their steely knives,  
But they just can't kill the beast_

That reminded him so much of the battles he and his brothers had against the Foot...It seemed no matter what...It seemed something kept bringing him back...

The Shredder wouldn't die...No matter how many times they risked their lives...No matter how many times he had to stitch his brothers wounds closed...Minor surgeries he could handle but the mental injuries he couldn't operate on...Not with a scalpel and his skilled hands...He couldn't save them from that..

Donatello closed his eyes turning up the music as loud as his ears could take til he couldn't even hear his own breathing.

_Last thing I remember, I was  
Running for the door  
I had to find the passage back  
To the place I was before_

Home...He had to get home...That was all he could really think of...Or rather save his brothers...He was still sixteen years old and young...And yet his brothers were older and war torn...He was just in total misery that entire time...He hid it with his resolve but in reality...The world that would never exist was hell on Earth...

_"Relax, " said the night man,  
"We are programmed to receive.  
You can check-out any time you like,  
But you can never leave! "_

"I left...I left..." Don murmured to himself curling up upright.

He began to hum..

"Welcome to the Hotel California..." He murmured faintly as the music replayed. He just needed to forget...To fall into the song he had once listened to as a young turtle tot that would let him fall asleep.

"Such a lovely place, such a lovely place..Such a lovely face..

Plenty of room at the Hotel California...Any time of year you can find it here.." He murmured laying back down closing his eyes images playing in his head.

"Her name is Tiffany twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz, she's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that she calls friends..." He drifted off the song lyrics playing in his head.

_Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends  
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends  
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.  
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget_

So I called up the Captain,  
"Please bring me my wine"  
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"  
And still those voices are calling from far away,  
Wake you up in the middle of the night  
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California  
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)  
Such a lovely face  
They livin' it up at the Hotel California  
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)  
Bring your alibis!

Don had done in his mind what he suspected few ever did...

He checked out of his Hotel California...And he did leave...He was back where he belonged...With his brothers, his father, his friends...

He was safe...

But for how long?

He didn't realize it as he cried in his sleep...Nightmares only to begin again...Even if he escaped the real life of it...The nightmares still plagued him.

The Hotel California truly never let him leave...


End file.
